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University of Alberta Pandas skip Selena Sturmay (left), coach Garry Coderre, third Abby Marks, second Kate Goodhelpsen, extra Catherine Clifford and lead Paige Papley pose with the 2020 U-Sports national title after defeating the University of New Brunswick Reds 10-2 in the final on Sunday, March 15, 2020, in Portage la Prairie, Man.Czarina Castellano/ Curling Canda

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The University of Alberta Pandas curling team needed just six ends before shaking hands to capture their fourth national championship in the past six years.

Or, at least, they would have if anyone had actually been shaking hands during the 2020 Canadian Colleges/U-Sports/Curling Canada national championships in Portage La Prairie, Man., amid concerns over COVID-19.

“We eliminated handshaking of any kind, it was just wrist pumps and elbow touching and things like that,” Pandas coach Garry Coderre said after returning to Edmonton on an early morning flight Monday to begin a 14-day self-quarantine. “Everybody was extremely cautious about the seriousness of what was happening.”

The Pandas defeated the University of New Brunswick Reds 10-2 in Sunday’s final, at the same time the World Curling Federation announced the cancellation of its mixed doubles and senior world championships planned for mid-April in Kelowna, B.C.

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And with U-Sports pulling the plug on all the other national championships in men’s and women’s hockey and volleyball this past weekend, the fact curling was able to play through was a feat in itself.

“With all that’s going on, it’s been a wild ride, there’s no doubt about that,” said Coderre. “We were fortunate we were deep enough into the competition and the lack of people there made it easier for (organizers), I guess, to continue on.”

Then again, and pardon the pun, curling isn’t the biggest draw among university sports crowds, which quite actually worked in their favour this weekend, when social distancing was becoming the catch phrase.

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“With the college and university (curling nationals) being relatively new and not really getting the coverage the upper curling competitions are getting, most of the people there tend to be family,” Coderre said. “So that sort of controls the number of people that are in attendance.

“They said the only reason ours went ahead was the facilities were ready, everything was in place, the attendance base was under that 250 mark.”

Which raises questions in itself.

“I don’t understand how they can rationalize that because there was less than 250 there that the disease isn’t going to get passed on,” he said. “But they were really, really good in controlling that environment.”

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Since getting underway Wednesday, rocks were wiped down between draws of the 16-team field, volunteers continuously sanitized high-traffic zones in the facility and you couldn’t turn around without seeing hand sanitizer available.

Things were so clean and thorough, in fact, the Pandas didn’t even get to enjoy a trophy-hoisting moment on the ice after the big win.

“We were requested not to touch anything,” said Coderre, whose squad was brought into a side room away from the general public to receive their medals. “They weren’t presented to us, they were sitting on a table and they said, ‘Please take one.’”

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But they’re not complaining, of course. At least they got to play for their gold medals.

And in winning them, Pandas curling kept alive a streak that has seen the U of A claim at least one national title each year since last missing out in 1992-93.

“Twenty-seven years, to be exact,” Coderre said. “And the curling program has actually saved the streak, I think this is the third time. The first time, it was Team (Brendan) Bottcher and the last was one of Kelsey Rocque’s championships that saved the run. And this one saved the run, so we’ve kept the streak alive.”

And they did it in the face of everything working against them, with Selena Sturmay at skip, Abby Marks third, Kate Goodhelpsen second and Paige Papley lead.

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“The girls have been playing well,” said Coderre, who began the program along with head coach Rob Krepps 15 years ago, and was named Fox 40 U-Sports curling coach of the year this season. “University sports competition is really strong, there are eight very good teams that could be on the podium quite easily.”

But he’s never quite witnessed a national final like Sunday’s, where the Pandas stole five in the second and two more in the third for a commanding 7-0 lead.

“We played them in the very last game of the round robin, the winner got first place, the loser gets second place,” Coderre said. “In fact, we could have ended up in third place in the playoffs. That’s how tight it was.”

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In winning their second national title in three years, the Pandas will once again represent the country at the Winter Universiade Games, which are scheduled for Lucerne, Switzerland, in 2021.

“Hopefully the world will be settled down by then,” Coderre said. “I don’t think we can every say that life is going to be the same moving forward, I think people are going to look at it totally different because of the circumstances.

“Just because something’s happening in another country, that doesn’t mean that it’s not going to get us. I think everyone’s going to learn something from this.”

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